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May 5, 2004
Desert tortoise act reaches Beatty
By RICHARD STEPHENS The first came with a presentation by county consultant Dr. James Marble on the ramifications of sharing living space with an endangered species, the desert tortoise. Marble explained that the tortoise's habitat includes Beatty and all areas south in Nye County. This means that anyone disturbing land in that area, even on private property, without the required fees, survey, and permits is subject to fines of up to $25,000 per violation and up to six months in jail. And he said the U. S. Department of Fish and Wildlife has threatened to arrest violators. To lessen the impact on the economy and on property owners, the county proposes to seek an umbrella permit that would enable people to pay a lower fee to the county and go through fewer costly legal hoops. Marble has been going to each of the town boards in the impacted area and asking them to decide whether they supported the county in seeking this permit. The Beatty board voted unanimously to do so. The other announcement came from Commissioner Joni Eastley. She said she had spoken with Sheriff Tony DeMeo earlier in the day, and he had told her that he had decided "for public safety reasons" to centralize all dispatching from the Pahrump office, doing away with local dispatching in all other communities in the county. This announcement met with instant, strong opposition from Beatty Town Board and from residents in the audience, including several volunteer firemen. They not only had serious doubts about a dispatcher in another community knowing enough about the town to be able to dispatch emergency services to the proper destinations, but also said their experience had taught them that long-range radio systems have not proven reliable. A similar plan was proposed several years ago by former Sheriff Wade Lieseke, but was abandoned following strong opposition from the communities that would lose their dispatchers. The board acted on only one other item at the meeting, voting to hire Noorda Contractors to do finishing work on the community center roof and to install covers over air conditioning units. They postponed a decision on which company to hire to install theater curtains in the center, noting that the two bids received were for different types and configurations of curtains, and they wanted to give both companies a chance to submit bids on identical proposals. Fireman Mike Lasorsa reported progress has been made with the fire department's efforts to clean up a number of hazardous abandoned properties. One property owner is actively cooperating. A second property has recently passed back into the hands of the original owner, and Lasorsa felt that this owner could be worked with. The owners of a third property, who live in Pahrump, have not responded, and action might be taken to condemn the property as a public nuisance. |
